Wonderland
by LilianAlainRoss
Summary: Welcome to the world of Wonderland. Everything that you have ever heard or seen about this magical place is wrong. It's defintately a "magical" place but not in the good way. All that you can do here is gear up and hope to survive.
1. Chapter 1

I stood at her door, pretending to act shy and dejected. "Please," I whispered to her. "Give me one more chance. I swear I won't cheat on you again." I looked up at her with my puppy dog eyes, my fingers were crossed behind my back. Honestly, I hated her guts, but she was gorgeous and popular. Perfect for pushing my status upwards in the world of popularity.

She licked her lipstick-stained lips and straightened her fake eyelash. "Fine," she said, snobbily. "One more chance, Alex, but that's it. How about we have a date on Saturday?"

I smiled happily at her. "That would be awesome. I would love that." Then walked away. What happened next would change the course of my existence. A car came out of nowhere as I crossed the street to get to my vehicle.

The world went black.

When I came to, the world around me was dark and surrounded by dirt. There was a single table sitting in the center of an expanse. On the table was a collection of candies with "Eat me" taped to them. Of course, I didn't eat them. For all I knew, they could be poisoned, but I still shoved them in my pocket for later.

There was a giggle behind me.

I jerked around and there was a really pale little boy wearing a black vest and white bunny ears. "Hey, little boy," I tried to say in a sweet tone. "Can you tell me where I am?" I reached in my pocket for a piece of candy, then attempted to hand it to the boy.

He giggled again, this time running to a little door on one side of the dirt wall. "No, no, no! Come back!" I screamed at the little bunny boy as he slipped into the small passageway. He turned at the doorway, making a face at me.

I ran to the door, swinging it open. The little boy was gone. In his place, there was a tight tunnel. At first, I wasn't too keen on getting my new, ultra awesome, designer pants and Jordans dirty by squeezing through that tight space, but once I realized there was no other way out, I finally forced myself.

The tunnel, although short, was annoyingly damp and cold. By the time I made it through, I was covered in a thick layer of mud. There was another giggle.

The little boy.

I was filled with such rage and hate towards him. "Hello, little boy," I said between gritted teeth. My fists were clenched. Suddenly, the boy pulled out a little gold pocket watch and chucked it at me. Literally three inches from my face. That's how close it came. It hit the door behind me with an explosion.

I stood petrified for a moment.

The bunny boy was what? 7? And he's carrying around explosives? Something wrong is going around here. The little boy giggled again and dashed into a forest of giant mushrooms. I wanted to scream for him to come back, but no words formed in my mouth.

Instead, I chased after him.

The little boy led me through the giant mushroom forest, right to this clearing. Without any energy left, I came to a complete stop, gasping for breath. The bunny child skipped happily to the side of another person. She had her back towards me, but I could still see her unruly orange curls falling to her back.

Phew. A woman. Now, this is someone I could charm into telling me what was going on. "Hey, princess, do you mind telling me what's going on here?" She pulled a tattered and patched top hat on her head, turning to face me. I couldn't see her eyes, but her smile was devious and evil.

"Don't you know where you are?" she asked, straightening the collar on her jacket. I suddenly had the worst feeling about her. "Welcome to Wonderland." In a split second, she pulled out two colts from under her belt, aiming them directly at me.

 _Bang!_

Something flashed before my eyes. A person had stepped in front of the bullets. "Now, now, Hatter. That's not the way to treat the newbie," said a male voice in front of me. He slashed his blade around menacingly.

Something jerked me to the side. She was wearing identical clothing as the person who has stopped the bullets. "Hey, kiddo, I'm Tweedle Dee, or at least that's what everyone calls me," she said. I was panting as she dragged me along. "Welcome to Wonderland."


	2. Chapter 2

When we finally stopped, I was completely out of breath. "What in the world is going on!?" I screamed at Tweedledee. I looked up, and before me, at a distance, was a giant castle.

Tweedle Dee spun to face me from a few inches away. "We're going to see the Queen of Hearts. There hasn't been a newcomer for a long time, and we need to know what to do with you," she said, beginning to walk towards the castle via a checkered pathway.

That's when it hit me. Wonderland? Queen of Hearts? Tweedle Dee? A ratty old top hat? "Wait, wait, wait," I shouted, catching up to Tweedledee. "This is Wonderland, as in _Alice in Wonderland?_ "

She looked at me confused. "Yes? I thought you already knew that…" I shook my head no. She rolled her eyes and kept walking. I stood frozen, taking it all in. It had been so long since I had even watched the movie for _Alice in Wonderland_ , but from what I vaguely remember was the Queen of Hearts enjoyed beheading people. Still, after being saved by this random person, I might as well trust her, for now.

The giant double doors to the fortress swung open with a creepy creak. I took a gulp as we stepped into the foyer. "Okay, you need to wait here. I need to go get the Queen," Tweeldee said, motioning me to stop. She ran off into a passageway, being swallowed by the excesses of darkness.

Silence.

The vast foyer of the fortress was completely encased with it. Maybe I expected to vaguely hear the sound of servants clicking about or bustling sounds in the distance. Instead, there was not a single sound, which scared me even more. Waiting here, even if I was told to, was surely not the best idea. I stood awkwardly for a few seconds then took a big step in the direction she went.

I found myself suddenly jerked off the ground, dangling about three feet from the checkered floor. I gasped for breath, looked to see what was holding me up, but there appeared to be nothing there. Honestly, with nothing to hold me up, I was terrified that any movement would cause me to fall to my death.

"I knew he would move!" I heard a loud and hissing whisper directly below. The voice sounded young.

I looked down to the floor again. There was nothing but a broad smile a few inches from my faces. I jumped, well more like twitched considering I was still strung up like a trapped animal. Two scary-blue, slitted eyes opened, glaring at me.

"He's not very much of a catch is he," the creature whispered. "I wonder why the Hatter would choose him to come to Wonderland." I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. At this, I began wriggling around even more. Falling or not, I needed to get away from this creature. The smile broadened. "Doesn't he know that struggling is pointless. He doesn't know that I'm going to be killing him soon enough."

Light filled the room. "KITTY!" said a voice. "Leave the newcomer alone!"

The creature backed off a little, revealing itself in the light. It was just a little girl, maybe eight or nine, wearing the most ridiculous striped footie PJs and cat ears. The broad white smile on her face immediately faded. "But he moved…." she groaned, randomly moving her fingers. Something cut into my skin at my gut. I looked down and there was a thin, almost invisible thread around me. That's when I noticed that there was similar threads wrapped around the little girl's fingers.

"Please put him down. He's done nothing to you, specifically," continued to the voice from the opposite side of the room. Grumbling, the little girl moved her fingers again, causing me to crash to the ground. I smoothed out my blonde hair. All this excitement was ruining my cool.

I took a deep breath. "Hello, I'm here to see the Queen of Hearts, apparently" I said as calmly to the little girl as I could. She looked at me with a mix of uninterestedness and anger. "Could you take me to see her?"

There came an extremely deep sigh from behind me. I turned around. Standing there was a young man, dressed in the most ridiculous poofy, checkered costume that was completely unstylish. He ran his hand through his coarse hair in frustration. "I assume Tweedle Dee was the one who brought you here," he said quietly.

I nodded. "Yeah, how does that have to do with anything?"

His foot stomped on the ground angrily, while his hands flew up into the air. "Well!? What do you think? Am I the QUEEN of Hearts?" he asked, glaring at me. When I did not answer immediately, he continued. "Just because some stupid _Mad_ Hatter decided that my name here would be Queen of Hearts does not make me a SHE! JEEZ TWEEDLE DEE!" he finished his rant with a deep sigh. His hand flew out towards me in greeting. "Hello, I'm Niko."

My brows furrowed, slowly taking his hand. I said "What are you talking….." My words were cut off by the sound of something wooden slamming against the ground.

"HE'S THE QUEEN OF HEARTS!" shouted a pair of voices in perfect unison. Two people, from opposite directions, dashed swiftly towards us, obviously attempting to pumble the Kitty and Niko. Unfortunately, the Kitty pulled her finger strings, causing the two offenders to be suspended above the ground. One was Tweedle Dee and the other was nearly identical to her, excepting the fact that it was a guy. I assumed this must be the person that had saved me previously.

"Whatever Niko tells you, it's a lie! He is the Queen of Hearts; thus saith the Hatter," said Dee, smiling stupidly.

"I might be _technically_ the Queen of Hearts, but you know very well how much I _hate_ being called that, you idiot!" screamed Niko in return.

This shot into a giant argument about something not involving me, so my mind wandered off. Honestly, these people looked like cheap cosplayers that had no popularity or benefit to me whatsoever. I had no reason to stay around them, even if they did "save" my life. I began inching away from the crowd towards the nearest exit.

I found an escape into some sort of garden. Surrounding the garden was a large hedge that had a single opening into a long stretch of hedged area. Of course, I walked down the path. Eventually, I would find the exit.

It was already dark.

I had gotten seriously turned around in this maze of hedges. I had decided, after an hour or so of wandering, that calmly leaving the castle probably wasn't the best move, considering these people did "save" me from the Hatter. So, I began making my way back towards the castle, which ended up in total failure.

"Are you lost?" came a feminine voice from nearby. I jerked around. Down one of the hedge pathways, there was a huge mushroom. Atop the mushroom, sat a gorgeously mature woman, smoking a fancy cigarette.

I put on my most seductive grin, attempting to make myself look more presentable. If I told her that I was lost, then she would think me incompetent, but if I told her that I wasn't lost, she would leave me to find the way out. The worst case scenario is that she finds out I was attempting to run away, then she could either go with me or bash me for leaving **.** "So what if I am? I simply came out for a stroll and happened to lose my way," I said, my voice smooth and innocent sounding.

She laughed, slipping off the mushroom. She gracefully landed next to me, exhaling a ring of smoke in my face. I held back the urge to cough for the sake of my appearance. "That's not what I saw. It looked like you were trying to run away and got lost. It was actually quite amusing watching you struggle," she said.

I could feel my cheeks heat up. I couldn't think of anything to convince her otherwise. I was caught.

"Follow me. Lucky for you, I'm generous," she said, beginning to walk away. Of course, I gladly tailed behind her, partially for the sake of being back, but also for the sheer reason of looking at her absolutely seductive figure from behind. "What? Do we not entertain you enough? Are you seeking death from the Hatter?"

I sighed remorsefully. She was in on this cosplay too. And I had such I hopes for her. "Look, Sugar, I don't know what's going on over here or what kind of joke this is, but I'm not buying it. I would like to go home and enjoy my life."

She abruptly stopped. I stopped just in time before running into her back. "Excuse me," she said. "If you haven't quite the brains to understand, this isn't some sort of joke. This is real life. Every single one of us wants to go home and enjoy their lives, too. Shut up, and stop being such a brat."

Her words stung my pride. She once again began walking, but this time, I no longer admired her lovely form. "Suuure everybody seems to be wanted to get back," I muttered to myself. "That's why they all seem to be dressing strangely and acting even worse…."

She spun suddenly, almost knocking me over. "Did you say something?" she asked, a sarcastic smile etched on her face.

I returned an equally sarcastic smile and said: "No, nothing directed to you." Her smile immediately faded as she continued to walk through the maze of hedges. Finally, over the tops of the hedges, I could once again see the annoying red and black bricked castle.

The woman spun around swiftly. "This is nothing personal, kid," she said with a curt smile. Something smoke-like billowed out of her hand, enveloping me. I was going to cuss her out, but I found myself unable to move. I collapse on the ground as everything began to turn dark.

It was still pitch black when I opened my eyes. There was nothing but cold air and hard ground around it wasn't for the profusive muttering and whispering far off, I would have never guessed that I was awake. Truthfully, hours before, I had been terrified of the silence, but this noise was even worse.

High pitched voices screamed at one another while darker sounding voice groaned in return. There was giggling and laughing, sounds of crying and sobbing. The sounds never stopped. I gripped myself in terror….I mean! I don't get scared. I was gripping myself because of the obvious cold of the room.

I stood to my feet. I sighed. At least I could still stand. Suddenly, the ground underneath my feet began to tremble. I nearly fell to the ground but luckily caught myself. The trembling floor rose, causing the sounds of voices to become louder and louder.

Finally, the floor rose high enough to reach the "ceiling". In reality, it was simply a cloth of black, which was easily broken through. A barrage of sound and light hit me like a ton of bricks. Seeming thousands of hands reached through the large cracks in the wooden walls to try and touch me. The laughing and crying rung through head like bullets. I tried to grip my ears to stop the sound, but they continued ringing all the louder.

The floor came to a jolting stop. "ORDER IN THE COURT!" shrieked a loud, male voice. The room fell into a buzzed silence. I released the tight grip on my head, trying to calmly stand.

I was standing in a round room, surrounded on all sides by people, if you could call them that. Cards. Ace to Ten, as far as I could see. White and Black and Red dotting around the room. All standing in the lower levels of the room. The only body parts that they seemed to have were their long arms and thin legs. I shivered.

My eyes traced up to the higher levels of the room, about five feet above me. Seated upon high chairs with a crown of Hearts upon their heads, were the King and Queen. One of which was Niko. His kind and generous features that I had seen before seemed to be washed out by the blinding light. At four equal points around the room, there were other duos, seemingly representing the different flushes of cards.

Niko cleared his throat, finally breaking the silence. "We have gathered here today to decide the fate of our traitorous and new companion," he said, his voice booming around the room. Once again, everything erupted into cries and shouts.

I held my breath in terror. They were here to decide my fate. What was that supposed to mean?


	3. Chapter 3

"OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" shrieked high pitched voices from below. Other screams could be heard easily agreeing with the shriekers. I gulped down what saliva remained in my quickly drying mouth. This was it. I was going to die at the hands of insane people.

There was a repetitive thudding sound of something heavy hitting against wood. The volume dropped almost immediately, leaving an eerie hum of whispers. "Now, now, my dear subject," spoke a tender voice with an interesting accent.

I turned to face the voice. Sitting on the throne decorated with spades was a tall man, his skin having a darkish hue of a Hispanic or something. Of course, he was adorned in the still annoying checkered pattern, but in black and white instead of red. "Speak, your majesty," said Niko, nodding.

"Well, we cannot jump to a condemnation so quickly," he said, his voice strong. The woman standing next to him and adorned in similar garbing and skin tone whispered something into the Spade's ear. "He is new here. He could have been terrified of us. Did you not think of this?"

Niko raised his eyebrows curiously. "That indeed is a true statement. What saith the jury?" He motioned his hand over the crowd of cards.

I glanced pleadingly down upon them. There was a moment of entire silence. I felt as though my fate lay in the hands of these creatures. "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" shrieked one of the cards confidently. The surrounding creatures pummeled it, causing it to be lost in the crowd.

"WHAT SAITH THE NEWCOMER!" shouted one of them. Many other shouted their agreement. I turned my eyes back to Niko. He nodded to me.

I sighed. Finally, I get to defend myself. I could tell them that I was simply on a walk and lost my way. Not exactly a lie, and pretty enough to convince anyone. I plastered on the most convincingly innocent yet confident smile of all time. "I was trying to run away from all of you losers, obviously," I said. Immediately, I gripped my throat in terror. I was not even thinking that. Why in the world would I say such a thing?

The room nearly bursts with screams of anger and distraught from below. This was it. I was done for. Off with my head. There was the profusive pounding sound once again, and the room dropped into low murmurs.

"There you have it!" shouted an unfamiliar voice. My head jerked to another corner of the room. Sitting upon the throne of Clubs was a Asian woman, her features cold and calculating. "He even calls us fools. We don't have the resources to support such an impudent brat such as him. Remember, we are hardly surviving on our own as it is. We must protect our own. The new guy is obviously trouble." I decided at that moment this was the person I hated the most.

"Now, Kura," spoke the Spades guy again. "We should not jump to conclusions so swiftly. He clearly did not know who we were. All of us were disoriented at our first arrival. You know this very well. Besides, the Hatter clearly desired him dead, which is very rare." He gave me a look of compassion. "Whether or not we can provide for him, there must be a good purpose for his appearance in our world."

The Clubs woman scoffed. "You are a fool for thinking so. The Hatter's desire to kill him shows his worthlessness all the more. If she wants him dead that obviously means that he will present us problems in the near future, with Hatter chasing after him and everything.

"But," another person spoke. My eyes shifted to the final corner and throne. This throne was surrounded in red, sparkling diamonds. The dark-skinned man, sitting on the throne casually placed his feet on the one armrest, his head on the other. Although he was still dressed in that nasty checkered outfit, he wore it with more dignity and style. "By wanting him dead so badly, Kura. Does that not make you no better than the Hatter?" A smug smile lit upon his face.

The eyes of the Clubs woman widened in anger. "Fine! Let him live! Let everyone under this court understand that anything is permissible here!" her hands flew upwards.

"Now, now!" shouted Niko, hushing the arguing people. "We did not say there will be no punishment for the traitor, but that does not mean that the punishment must be death." The others slowly nodded in agreement. I exhaled in relief. At least I knew that my life was not to be terminated.

My punishment was far worse than beheading.

Now, I was required to take the horribly attractive woman that had found me in the maze through large amounts of dirt and grime to a transport of some kind, all while wearing the most ridiculous blue and white outfit of all time.

I stood in my given room, practically a prison, staring at the gross clothing that they had provided for me. It was a light blue-ish shirt along with white pants. GENIOUS! Have a kid walk through miles of mud in white. Honestly, the outfit would nicely compliment my blond hair and light skin, but honestly, that shade of blue was not in style for someone my age. They didn't even match the only pair of shoes that I had.

I angrily tossed the outfit aside, flinging myself upon my bed with a groan. I sighed. Way too much had happened today. The only bright side, I finally hooked up with popular hottie, Morgan, for the fifth time in a row, even though I'll probably end up cheating on her again anyways. My eyes grew heavy, slowly closing. My mind sank into a deep sleep.

Darkness.

Normally, I was very unaware when I slept, but somehow I could feel the blackness around me. Had the Wonderland people placed me back in that horribly dark prison as they had before my trial? I tried to reach out to feel the wall, but I found myself unable to move.

Something pricked my arms, while something else seemed to be shoved down my throat. I tried to open my eyes but was unable. Maybe I was simply dreaming. Voices filled my mind almost immediately.

~"He's going to be like this for a while," spoke an unfamiliar voice, "so might as well carry on with your normal lives. We'll call you if there is any change." Listening to the voice sounded strangely distorted, as if I was in a tank of water and he stood beside me, speaking.

I could hear a deep sigh on the other side. "Please do call us if anything happens," said another voice. I gasped internally. It sounded like my step mother. "It's better he's like this and no one else, right?" We had a mutual hatred; thus, her comment made sense.

I could hear a throaty laugh beside her. My dad, her puppet, most likely. "Indeed that's the truth," he replied. I was taken aback. I knew my dad agreed with fake-mom most of the time, but agreeing with her about me being gone? I bit my lip. Screw them. Who needs family? I had popularity, looks, a hot girlfriend.

A ice cold laugh filled my ears, piercing my mind. "Don't you see? You're just like me," the voice hissed. Instead of being distant and distorted like the other voices, this one sounded very close to me, too close. Shivers shot down my spine. This was the voice belonging to the person who had tried to kill me. A vision of a top hat and curly red hair filled my vision. "Yes, yes," the voice continued. "That is who I am. And you and I are not much different. The world has forgotten about us. The real world hates us. Find me, and we can make this world a better more important place for everyone."

A white hand reached out in the darkness, large and menacing, threatening to swallow me up, body and soul. I tried to move away, but still, my body refused to obey my orders. The hand drew ever nearer, the fingers, like claws, grasping at me. ~

I felt myself being jerked out of my dream suddenly. I sat up suddenly, flailing my arms and screaming in terror. Hands grabbed me, stopping my flailing. I was back in the annoying prison room in Wonderland with a crumpled and unfashionable outfit beside me. My eyes jerked to the person beside me, half expecting to see the crazy Hatter. Luckily, there was no one there, aside from Tweedle Dee, her gross overalls clearly defining her in the dim light of the room. I sighed, half in anger and half in relief. She smiled as if she had just won the lottery.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her, waiting for my eyes to adjust to dim lighting of the room again.

She smiled even broader, a feat I had assumed impossible. "Well, the portal is open now, kiddo," she said. I raised my eyebrows. "Oh! Your job is to escort Caterpillar to the portal. Wow! I'm really jealous that you got off so easy in court! Normally, people leave there with a death sentence."

I flopped back onto the bed with a groan. "I don't know how spending time with Caterpillar is so much better," I muttered.

Tweedle Dee laughed hysterically, punching me playfully. "You're so funny! Come on. You should get ready to go."


	4. Chapter 4

p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"Up until this point, I had never really involved myself in dirty work. Sports were played at gyms on clean floors and country clubs with perfectly manicured lawns. Never before had I been forced to trudge through endless miles of dirt and mud in unfashionable and unattractive clothing. Call me a sissy, but I do enjoy being clean and proper. Two things that were not options for me at this time. /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;""Are you coming?" asked the idiotic but ever gorgeous Caterpillar, her face etched with irritation. Behind her, a long tube of metal filled with something appearing similar to sewage. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"I gave her a fake smile. "Whatever," I said mockingly, throwing my hands up. Caterpillar rolled her eyes, leaping down into the tube with a loud squish. Cautiously, I lowered myself into the pile of dung-looking mess. "Why do I have to do this again?" /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Caterpillar gave no reply for a long time. She simply continued marching on through the expanses of goo. I cleared my throat dramatically, trying to get her attention. She laughed. "Oh! That was a serious question. They didn't tell you anything about your new job?" /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"I sighed again. "No. They did not." My words came out choppy with annoyance, half from her lack of care and half from the fact that my nose was infatuated with a horrid stench. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;""Well….if you keep up then I'll explain it to you," she said, beginning to walk even faster. Frustrated, I jogged through the slush of grossness to catch up. She exhaled deeply. "Everyone arrived here randomly. All we really knew was that the Hatter was the first person to show up and honestly just wants all of us dead. Basically, once a week, this portal opens up. Normally, Hatter tries to attack us this time of the week to prevent us from escaping through the portal, so we have to send all of our best fighters to defend everyone while somebody sneaks through these tunnels to escape. Following?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"I was panting now from jogging beside her for so long. "That….*gasp*...still doesn't…..*pant*...explain why I'm…..*deep breath*...here," I said. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;""See, with everybody fighting Hatter, there is no one to escort the person leaving through the portal. So we needed someone to…." Her words suddenly cut off by a loud booming directly above us. Rocks fell from the ceiling onto the ground, splashing the gross sewage all over us. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"A shaft of light suddenly illuminated the tunnel even more, preceding a person dropping to the ground. I took a step back, trying to identify the person who had just fallen. A supernatural giggle erupted from the person. Annoying little rabbit ears made a sudden appearance on the person's head. It was the little boy who had stolen my candy. I flinched at the sight of him. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"The little boy lifted his head, revealing an insane-looking smile. "Caterpillar! I did not expect to see you here! I suppose you're in this tunnel because you want to leave." He drew out a pocket watch from the depths of his clothing, inspecting it thoroughly. "Unfortunately for you, it's not your time to leave yet." He tossed something heavily in our direction./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;""GET DOWN!" shrieked Caterpillar, shoving me away. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"BANG!/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"The room lit up, suddenly exploding into fiery inferno. I found myself stumbling away from the explosion, trying to gain my bearings. Along the edge of the tunnel about a few feet from the explosion lay Caterpillar who also was struggling to stand again. The bunny boy let out another giggle, dashing to her side. Caterpillar immediately pulled out something from behind her back, blocking the little rabbit from attacking her. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Of course, behind basically useless in the way of defending, I decided to do what I knew how to do best. Run. It wasn't cowardice, honestly. It was simply a tactical decision to leave the premises immediately. Screw Caterpillar. She had punishment from an eight year old bombing brat coming to her. I sped up my pace, hoping to escape back to the castle./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"-/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"After an extensive period of running, I had a sudden realization. I had been running the wrong way down the tunnel. Unfortunately, it was too late and too dangerous to turn around, so I ventured onward. While avoiding thinking about what might or might not be occurring with Caterpillar, my thoughts traced back to the strange dream I had had earlier. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Nobody wanted me back home./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"At least, that was the long lasting bitter impression that dream had left. Why would they hate say such things about me? What had I ever done to them to deserve that kind of treatment? Now, I had to return as swiftly as possible simply to show my wonderful worth. To show what they claimed such hate earlier. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Splat./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"I hit the ground heavily, decorating my clothing with with the gross liquid./spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" I must have tripped over something,/spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" I thought, pushing myself upward out of the goo. My eyes opened, widening suddenly. A glow seemingly radiated off of the dark colored liquid. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"My eyes traced to where the light was coming from. There, a few yards from me was a massive flower. Not just any flower, a bright red rose, swirling with a bright light. Sparks flew from the center. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"This must be the portal, I thought to myself. I could finally go home. I could leave all of these cosplaying lunatics, getting back to the world of fashion and riches. I stood up, stumbling towards the flower. I froze. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Nobody wants you back, though./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"The thought hit me like a ton of bricks. I stared into the swirling abyss of red light. Sure, I could go home. Sure, I could finally get back to reality, but who would want me there? Who would care that I was back? /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"What about Caterpillar? /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"This thought shocked me more than any of the others. It was strange for me to think about the thoughts and feelings of other people, let alone the ones of my hated enemies. If I honestly paused, what about Caterpillar? She had clearly been here longer than me. She certainly /spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"deserved/spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" to return back to reality more than me. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"That is when I made a resolution that would change the course of my life. I would save help save the ever gorgeous Caterpillar instead of leaving myself. Angrily but courageously, I began to trudge back through the muck to try and find Caterpillar. Maybe I would get lucky and that annoying bunny boy would have gotten rid of her. Still, I continued back through the passage to find her, dead or alive. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"-/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"It had been a twenty minutes or so of tumbling around the tunnel. It had become so dark in the sewer that I could no longer see; thus, I wasted my breath screaming Caterpillar and stumbling around the deserted caverns. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Finally, when I was about to lose hope and simply return to the portal, I found her. Slumped against the wall, covered in blood was none other than Caterpillar. I dashed to her side, heaving her arm over my shoulder. "I'm surprised you came back," she hoarsely whispered into my ears. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;""Trust me. You're not as surprised as I am," I groaned, beginning to march towards the glowing flower again. "You have no idea how tempted I was to just leave, but, I don't know…..I must've grown a conscience somehow."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"She breathed raspily, probably having problems from wounds sustained from that stupid rabbit child. "You're lucky that you didn't go through the portal. You would have died."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"For a second, I stopped. "I would have died?" I wondered out loud. She nodded, as we began our slow trek in the direction of the portal. "How?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;""The portal…..it needs two people in order to work properly. You probably would have been torn apart had you attempted to escape," she said, her voice sounding weaker. I sighed to myself. /spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"It's a good thing I didn't go through that portal/spanspan style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;", I thought, trudging onward. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"-/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Once again, I stood before the glowing red flower. I gently released Caterpillar. "Are you strong enough to go through the portal," I asked, vaguely shocked at the sound of concern in my voice. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;""Strong enough," she whispered. "Go behind the flower." I stared at her, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "I don't feel like explaining. Just do it." /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"I shrugged my shoulders. Who was I to deny her this? We already came this far. I squeezed against the edge of the grimy wall in order to make it around the giant flower. Behind it, there was a collection of roots, over-sized leaves. "Okay? What now?" I shouted. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;""Press your hand against the stock," she commanded. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"My brows furrowed even more. I could have sworn that one minute everyone was going to jump out at me and laugh. In the end, I did as I was told, my fingers gently gripping the stock nearest the petals. "What now….." I began, being immediately cut off. A hot liquid suddenly ran down my hands. I gasped, attempting to wrench away my hands. To my terror, I could not move. My fingers were glued to the stock. That wasn't the worst part./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"The flower was melting, or so it seemed. The red coloring of the flower suddenly began to stream down, running over my hands and into the sewage, leaving the flower a pure white color. I could almost see on the other side of the flower an immense red-ish glowing. Caterpillar laughed in joy. "I want to go home," she screamed at the flower. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"There was a brief second where nothing seemed to happen. Then suddenly, the light intensified about ten times before completely leaving me in the darkness and silence of the sewer. I stumbled to the wall, squeezing myself out of the crevice. /span/p  
h3span id="docs-internal-guid-db43f238-dc5e-5126-ef4f-409c63acded4" style="font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 17.3333px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Caterpillar was gone. I was left alone in the tunnel of blackness. /span/span/h3 


	5. Chapter 5

Maybe it had been hours, maybe days. I really don't remember. What I do remember is finally being pulled out of the disgusting tunnel into cleanness. I sighed in relief drifting off into unconsciousness.

It began as a low murmur in my dreams. The same distorted, water-like voices echoed all around me. There weren't many voices, maybe ten or so. But, all the voices sounded like people I knew.

"Well, we all hated him anyways. We were just friends with him so that we could get popular," whispered the voice that resembled my best friend. _Am I really a nuisance to them?_ Many other people spoke similar words to these. Did they not know that I could hear them? Did they no longer care about me?

I could hear a groan somewhere near me. "What are you saying?!" screamed another voice. This one definitely belonged to my step mother. "Just because this stupid brat of a son is having issues doesn't mean we need to stop the heist! I can still slip in the poison! We can still get the insurance money from that rich bastard!"

I flinched awake. Something soft engulfed me in a comfortable warmth. I cuddled gently into the fluff, thinking about the annoying dream.

Evil step mom was planning to kill dad?! What a shock! Of course, my mind would make up stupid things about someone that it hates. I sighed. " _...just because this stupid brat of a sun is having issues…."_ Well, at least that "stupid brat" (probably referring to myself), was finally serving a purpose in partially preventing something bad, right?

I could feel tears sting my eyes. I cuddled deeper into the comforter. I needed to man up. _Stop being such a pansy_ , I thought to myself, wiping the tears away. If I was basically worthless in the other world, then maybe I could do something important here.

Immediately, I threw the covers off, or at least, I attempted to do so. When trying to shove aside the fluffy covering, I found myself pressed down even harder into the soft mass. I began to panic. What if I was being captured by the Hatter? What if I suffocated? I pressed my hands against the fuzz, trying desperately to shove it away.

I could feel a sudden shudder, preceding an immense but muffled laugh. "Stop!" something giggled, causing the blanket to shudder even more. "That tickles!" My brows furrowed, my fingers slowly lifting from the fluff. The shuddering immediately ceased. I pressed my hands again, this time scratching into the fur. Once again, the blanket trembled, also beginning to laugh again. "STOP! PLEASE!"

The blanket was suddenly removed, exposing me to the cooler air. A booming laugh continued to fill my ears. It was a giant beast. Head to toe, it was covered in thick layers of white fluff. Gently, wings unfurled as it laughed and tumbled around on the floor. "What kind of creature is this?" I mused to myself.

The creature stopped it's profusive tumbling, turning its face towards me. It cocked its head, showing off his fine row of buck teeth through the fur on his face. It glared at me with an intense fury which I could not measure. "What kind of creature am I, you ask?" it spoke. It intimidatingly loomed above me. "They call me…..the Jabberwocky."

I blinked twice quickly. "Isn't the Jabberwocky supposed to be scary?" I asked, my head tilting a bit.

The beast turned upon me, closing the distance between us. I stared into his eyes, visualizing a flickering and warming flame within them. It once again tried and failed to look terrifying and intimidating. "Do you say that I am not intimidating?!" His voice trembled with anger.

I opened my mouth to answer, but instead, the door slammed open. "Jabs! Has the newbie woken up yet?" spoke the welcoming and familiar voice of Niko from the doorway. His eyes caught us, hanging over one another on the bed and a blush began to creep into his cheeks. "I'm sorry if I was interrupting…."

The Jabberwocky jerked over to the door, slamming it shut before Niko could leave. "The newbie is awake," it cleared its throat. Niko glanced suspiciously at me then the Jabberwocky, cautiously sitting down on the bed.

"Hey, Niko," I said, skeptically glaring at his terribly gross, checkered outfit. "What are you doing here?"

He wrung his hands. "Did…..Caterpillar…..?" I could sense the question in his voice even though his voice was trembling. I laughed to myself, thinking of how this was such a big change from the "King Niko" person in the trial room.

I sighed. "Caterpillar used the portal thing. I honestly don't know if that means she's okay or not."

Niko heaved a huge sigh of relief. "If that's the case, then this is time for celebration!" he shouted, immediately gaining a measure of enthusiasm back. "Jabs! Go get everyone together! Caterpillar made it out!"

So apparently, my clothes were disposed of. My fashionable clothing that actually matched and looked nice. My wonderful clothing that had not been drenched in sweat and sewage for hours on end. My amazing clothing that felt nice against the skin and beautiful to behold. Disposed of. Somehow, because I wore my clothing when I first arrived, they were considered "contaminated" and were gotten rid of immediately. EVEN MY JORDANS!

I was attending a party in nothing but the "freshly cleaned" terrifyingly hideous blue outfit that I had been given. At least none of my friends were here to see me at my lowest form.

"You ready?" asked the Jabberwocky from directly outside of the door.

I groaned, glaring at myself in the mirror. "Of course I'm ready. Why wouldn't I be ready," I muttered. "Other than the fact that I'm wearing the most despicable clothing on earth aside from Niko's checkered clothing, I'm just….totally ready to go."

"What was that?!"

"I'm coming!" I shouted. I marched over to the door, swinging it open.

About a thousand smiles greeted me. "Sorry," said TweedleDee, who was standing directly in the doorway. "We all decided to have a party in your room!" My eyes widened in shock as all of the people funneled into my small, prison-cell-like room. Each person carried something in their arms, whether it be cakes, drinks, or maybe even a smaller person.

The thing that I was most shocked about was the bandages. White cloth, stained red in some places adorned most of the people. Some had the bandages wrapped around the head or chest, while others tightly bound nubs where arms and legs should have been. I almost vomited. How could these people, clearly suffering from major loss, be celebrating at a time like this?

Drinks were being passed around for everyone to take. "A toast!" spoke Niko, who was standing beside two of the other leader judges from the trial. "A toast to saving Caterpillar. She was the first one in a long time!"

"CHEARS!" shouted all the other people in unison, taking a deep drink of the glasses in their hands. I simply stared blankly at all of them _. How could they be so happy?_

A hand suddenly grabbed my butt, giving it a great squeeze. I squealed, leaping away as best I could in the crowded room. "Hey, hey, hey! He's got nice cheeks!" laughed the person behind me.

I spun around, angrily. "WHAT THE HECK, IDIOT!?" I screamed, but I suddenly stopped. He was wearing the same overalls that TweedleDee wore. I grimaced. He was the person who had saved me from the Hatter.

"So the helpless guy does remember me," he said, leaning closer to me. His arm gently draped over my shoulder. "I would like to warn you to stay away from my sister. You have seen that I wield a pretty mean katana. Please avoid seducing Dee in any way; otherwise, my katana might end up that nice butt of yours."

I pushed away, staring terrified at him. He gave me a bright smile, turning back towards the inner circle of the party. _I know who I'm never talking to again_ , I said to myself.

The party was finally over. It had ended kind of abruptly when one of the other people started going into cardiac arrest due to the excitement. It was actually quite entertaining to the very end.

I collapsed on my rock hard bed, reviewing the events of the night. Overall, it had been really fun, aside from my encounter with Tweedle Dee's brother. Suprisingly, there was no alcohol served at all, but I suppose that was to be expected from a bunch of nerds having a party. I laughed to myself, about to fall asleep.

Suddenly, I felt something heavy and soft collapse on top of me. Cautiously, I reached my hand up to scratch the surface. "No STOP!" giggled the blanket, squirming under my touch.

"What are you doing in my bed?" I shouted through the expanse of fur, stopping my tickling.

I could almost feel the beast relaxing against my body, ceasing its shuddering. "Technically," came the muffled response. "This is my bed. I've just been ordered to share with you."

I smiled. "Thank you for sharing, then," I said. Honestly, it was much for comfortable with this Jabberwocky acting as a blanket. Maybe….just maybe I could get used to this kind of life.


End file.
